STATE OF THE UNION 



SPEECH OF Hon. WM. BIGl.ER, 

OF PENNSYLVANIA, 

Delivered in the Senate of the United States, January 21, 1861. 



The Senate hnviiig under coiisideraliou the joint resolution (S. No. 54) proposing; cerluin niiicn<iineiit8 to 
the Constitution, the pending ([uestioii being on Mr. Bigleb's amendment to the atnendment of Mr. Clark — 

Mr. BIGLERsaid: 

Mr. President: After the solemn scene presented here this morning, I confess I 
scarcely have the heart to approach the consideration of this subject. The solicitude, 
the universal and solemn solicitude, not to say alarm, that pervades the popular 
mind in ray State, touching the present distracted and imperiled condition of the 
country, and the importunities which reach me daily on that absorbing topic, must 
plead my apology to the Senate for the expression of my opinions and feelings at this 
time. I shall probably never claim their attention again, and I shall be as brief as 1 
properly can. It is mainly my purpose to deal with the eventful and inauspicious 
present, and as iar as that is possible, with the mysterious and gloomy future of our 
country and Governtnent. 

I shall not repeat, at length, the oft-told and familiar stories of the establishment of 
colonies on this continent; of their early history: their doings and sufferings, their 
progrcss^^^ail/ prosperity ; of the means by which they were induced to embrace the 
institution now the subject of unhappy, if not fatal, controversy between the States 
of the Confederacy; nor how those colonies, in the course of time, threw off their 
allegiance to the mother country ; how their representatives assembled in Independ- 
ence Hall, at Philadelphia, in 1776, and absolved themselves from their former alle- 
giance to Great Britain ; how the people of all the States, north and south, made 
common cause in the privations and sufferings that followed; how, after a struggle 
of seven years, their independence was fully established ; how they formed a Con- 
federacy of States for the mutual benefit of all ; how and why that Confederacy 
failed to answer the purposes for which it was designed; and how, in 17S7, these thir- 
teen separate and independent States, by their representatives, assembled in conven 
tion at Philadelphia, in order to " form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure 
domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare 
and secure the blessings of liberty;" nor how, in that work, Madison, Randolph,. 
Pinckney, Ruiledge, and others of the South, and Franklin, Sherman, Gerry, Pater- 
son, and others of the North, sat side by side, day after day, in solemn conclave over 
the affairs of the nation; how the individuality of the States was preserved and 
distinguished ; how each expressed its views by a single vote, the smallest being equal 
to the greatest; and how it was agreed that, when nine out of the thirteen should 
unite on conditions of a more perfect Union, that that Union should supersede the 
old form of Government, and be binding on those States only who might adopt it,, 
leaving the opportunity for four of those independent parties to remain as separate 
States or sovereignties outside of the new Union. 
Nor need I relate the history of the acceptance of those new conditions, or call 



.5 

2 .55-93 

attention to the extreme caution and qualification with which they were accepted by- 
New York, Virginia, and other States, and how Rhode Island and North Carolina 
remained out of the new Confederacy for two years or more, and were noticed by 
Congress as separate and independent Powers; nor more than state the political prob- 
lem about amending the Constitution, to show what care was taken to retain power 
in the States over the popular will of the whole mass of people of all the States, con- 
sisting in the fact that, amendments to the Constitution can be defeated by the votes 
of one-thirtieth of the electors of the United States, and at the same time that amend- 
ments can be carried against the will of the majority. This would be by the small 
States, to the number of one-fourth, uniting against the large States, and by a close 
vote within each State; on the other hand, the united vote of one-fourth of the 
largest States, cast together, would make more than a majority of all the votes, whilst 
the remaining three-fourths would carry the amendment. 

Nor, sir, need I tell the story of the subsequent career of our country under this 
new compact; how it has grown, as it were, by magic, from thirteen feeble colonies, 
with three millions of inhabitants, to thirty-three independent sovereign States, embrace 
ing a population of over thirty-one millions. Nor how all the members of the Con- 
federacy, and the people. North and South, made common cause, in 1812, against a 
foreign foe, contributing, with unsurpassed zeal and generosity, money for the com- 
mon Treasury, and men for the field of battle; and how those men stood or fell to- 
gether. Nor how, at a later date in the history of the country, in the war with 
Mexico, northern and southern men rushed with unsurpassed zeal to the flag of the 
country, and followed it, and planted it wnerever the rights and the honor of the 
nation required. Then there was no talk of North and South, of East and West; 
none of slaveocracy, and none of sectionalism. All was forgotten in the common 
cause of the country. Away down at Vera Cruz, beneath the rays of a tropical sun, 
were beheld the northern and southern soldier and sailor in cordial fellowship and 
co-operation. And then, again, on the rugged highways toward the city of Mexico, 
was heard the steady tread of the Palmetto boy, and the Pennsylvania volunteer, side 
by side and shoulder to shoulder, moving against a foreign foe with unfaltering zeal 
and courage. No thought of domestic feud or geographical distinctions disturbed 
that harmonious band. Their thoughts turned or the triumph and glory of the arms 
of a common country. Nor, sir, need I call to mind the distinguished heroes and 
patriots of the Revolution, and of the subsequent struggles, to show that the South 
equally with the North, and the North equally with the South, have contributed to 
establish our independence, and to build up our great country and Government. ' 

Nor, Mr. President, is it my purpose to trace in minute and elaborate detail the 
inauspicious events of the last fifteen years, which have brought our once happy 
country to the very verge of civil war and its countless horrors and ravages. A glance 
at each of these is enough for my purpose. One after another they have followed so 
closely down the current of time, that the popular mind has seldom had time to be- 
come composed, whilst it has often been so agitated and maddened that reason and 
judgment have yielded to passion and prejudice. 

Nor, sir, shall I attempt to trace the history of these events with the view of fast- 
ening the responsibility upon this party 01 upon that, by an elaborate array of his- 
torical facts. I shall only look at these things so far as it may seem necessary to i| 
impress men with a sense of their full responsibilities to the country in the present f 
critical epoch, and for this purpose only. On these points the popular judgment is 1 
too far matured to be disturbed by any argument of mine. Nor is it essential to my .1 



3 

purpose to know what that judgment is. The Union must be saved, no matter whose 
measures and policy have endangered it. The country must be rescued from the 
disasters of civil war and anarchy, no matter whose folly and madness have produced 
he impending peril. History will take care of this. And as for the public men of 
the present day, it were wiser for them to think of what history is to say of them, 
than to indulge in dreamy anticipations about the White House, first class missions, 
and Cabinet places. They have a chance for glorious or ingloridus history, but none, 
none, sir, to gain the great prize of American ambition. If the statesmen of the 
present day should prove themselves incapable of performing the great mission of 
preserving the institutions transmitted to them by their fathers, the sooner their 
names are forgotton the brigliter will be iheir country's history. 

The fundamental cause of the imperiled condition of the country is the institution 
of African servitude, or rather the unnecessary hostility to that institution on the 
part of those who have no connexion with it, no duties to perform about it, and no 
responsibilities to bear as to the right or wrong of it. Each event, touching the ex- 
tension, contraction, or control of this institution, as it has presented itself, has added 
to the mutual exasperation and strife between the North and the South, until men 
have become convinced that to have peace, as to all things else, the North and the 
South must be completely separated as to this institution of slavery. From 1820 to 
1845 we had comparative peace, except only the agitation kept up by a small band, 
of Abolitionists, in the North, who wrote and harangued against colonization, and 
in favor of immediate and unconditional emancipation of African slavery everywhere. 
But the annexation of Texas — [they say she will need annexing again soon] — the con- 
sequent war with Mexico, and the acquisition of new territory, renewed the strife in 
Congress once more ; and by 1850 the country witnessed a scene not entirely dissim- 
ilar to that which now surrounds us. The first attempt at adjustment was that of 
the Senator from Illinois, [Mr. Douglas,] on the basis of the plan which had given 
the country peace in 1820 ; but it is a matter of history that this proposition was 
voted against by the northern members of both branches of Congress, with few ex- 
ceptions, and defeated. The anti-slavery men opposed its adoption in 1820 ; resisted 
its extension to the Pacific ocean in 1848 ; and contended against its repeal in 1854. 
This means of adjustment being rejected, another was absolutely necessary ; and the 
compromise measures of 1850 were the offspring of the wisest heads and the purest 
hearts in the land. But the peace that followed was brief. The legislation of 1851 
in some measure renewed the excitement ; and the contemporaneous organization of 
a sectional, anti-slavery party, since known as the Republican party, gave embodi- 
ment and force to the new agitation. Next came the struggle between the North 
and the South for ascendency in Kansas, with its countless excesses, outrages, usurpa- 
tions, seditions, and crimes; next the struggle about the admission of the State of 
Kansas; and in 1858 came the era of the dogma of an " irrepressible conflict" be- 
ween the institutions of the States, enunciated by the President elect, Mr. Lincoln, 
and the distinguished Senator from New York, [Mr. Seward.] Then followed the 
John Brown raid on the State of Virginia; and next the developments of the mis- 
chevious doctrine of the Helper book, indorsed by sixty-nine members of Congress ; 
and the vote of sixty republican members of Congress for the Blake resolution, to 
say nothing of the unjust and highly offensive attack made on southern men and 
southern institutions, in this body, by the Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sumneh.] 
Since then the sectional party of whose origin I have spoken, have carried the elec- 
tions in the North like a tornado; and now their President elect, with the dogmas 
of his party as his guide, is awaiting the 4ih of March to take possession of the Gitr , 



4 

ernraent; and though a million of men more voted against than for him, he is con- 
stitutionally elected, and must hold the office. 

The southern people, to a great extent, believe that those dogmas are to be carried 
out by the incoming Administration, and that they are inconsistent with the consti- 
tutional rights of the people of fifteen of the sovereign States of the Union; that 
those fifteen States are to be deprived of their just rights under the Constitution, and 
thereby rendered less than equals in the Confederacy, which constitutes, in their 
opmion, a degree of dishonor and humiliation to which they will not submit, prefer- 
ring the dissolution of the Union, and some say, even civil war, pestilence, and fa- 
mine. South Carolina already denies her allegiance to the United States'; and Flo- 
rida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, have also in solemn convention declared^ 
their determination to throw off their allegiance to this Government, and resist its 
authority ; and the ten vacant seats on this side tell the story of the progress of the 
revolution in terms more significant than any I can employ. Meanwhile, mutual 
jealousy, discord, and strife are inflaming the whole land. So stand parties arrayed, 
and so stand the affairs of our distracted country at this hour. 

Our mission— a holy and sacred one— is to avert the impending calamities — to 
perpetuate the institutions left us by the fathers. Are we equal to the task? Can 
it be performed ? Will it be performed ? What sacrifices will it require ? Must 
countless treasure be expended, and rivers of blood be shed ? No, sir ; none of these 
things; none of the priceless sacrifices made for its establishment are neceesary — 
none, sir. It only requires that opinion, party, and prejudice should be mutually 
abandoned to attain the priceless end. No man's honor or conscience need be harmed 
in this sacred work. 

I have previously declared the opinion, that the proper and safe mode of doing this 
could that be brought about with sufficient promptitude to meet the exigencies of the 
times, would be a convention of the States— I mean all the States— to meet as 
our fathers met in Philadelphia, in 17S7. A body thus constituted would reflect the 
real sentiments of the people, and the cool judgment and patriotism of the land; and 
I cannot doubt that the result would be the adoption of new bonds of Union, under 
which all the States could live for many generations in harmony, if not till the end 
of time. But the crisis is upon us ; the exigencies admit of no delay. The dissatis- 
fied States demand immediate assurance of justice and equality within the Union, 
and the return of good will and fraternity among the people, else they separate at 
once, and possibly forever, from the Government of the United States, whatever the 
hazards or sacrifices may be. Action— prompt action and thorough, is imperatively 
demanded on all sides. The proposition of the Senator from Kentucky, to take the 
sense of the people, immediately, on measures of adjustment, which, it is believed, 
would arrest the progress of dissolution, and ultimately restore peace and good will, 
IS, to my mind, the most auspicious step we can take. I am of those who believe his 
measures will be accepted by the northern people, whatever the politicians may say 
or do to the contrary ; and why should they not be submitted ? Why should we not 
make at least this effort to save the Union ? In God's name, are we to stand idly by 
and see this great Government broken into fragments, and possibly the whole nation 
plunged into an internecine war? If there be not statesmanship, love of country, 
magnanimity, and justice enough in Congress to sava the Government, let us say so 
to the people, and call upon them to come to the rescue. But why should any man 
object to the reference of this question to the popular will in the several States; or 
who will say that he will not obey that will, whatever it may be? Certainly no 
Senator will assume ground so untenable. I can readily see why Senators might be 



5 

unwilling to accept these propositions for the people; but 1 can see no just reason for 
refusing the people the opportunity to accept thera for themselves and for their repre- 
sentatives. Does any man doubt tiie intelligence and patriotism of the people ; o"" 
will any one s^ay he does not seek the counsel and advice of his constituents in these 
times of trouble? It seems to me that Senators on the other side, whether the pro- 
positions of the Senators from Kentucky or those proposed by myself, be acceptable 
or not, should not hesitate to trust them to the people. I am quite sure, under similar 
circumstances, I should be very willing to lake and abide tiie judgment of those I 
represent. Were it the question of adopting the resolutions as amendments to the 
Constitution, to be referred to the States for ratification, members might well insist 
on having just such propositions as met their own judgment; but if they believe any 
measure of peace necessary, I cannot see why they should refuse to refer the propo- 
sitions to the people, although they themselves might be unwilling to accept them. 

This may be called an extraordinary step ; it may be said it is irregular ; that it is 
without warrant in the Constitution. My answe* to all this is, that the times are 
irregular ; the nature of the case requires extraordinary measures ; and certainly there 
is nothing in the Constitution denying the right to Congress to submit propositions 
to the decision of the people — the power that created the Constitution. Did it pro- 
pose the exercise of a final and binding action by Congress, then the questions of 
power and propriety might well be raised. But as it is a proposition to consult the 
power that makes constitutions, I do not see that it can be regarded as the exercise 
of a dangerous authority. But perhaps gentlemen on the other side may be flatter- 
ing themselves with the idea that there is no real danger to the stability ot the Gov- 
ernment, nor the peace of the nation. Or, perhaps, they have concluded that even 
if it so be that the country is in peril, they have had no hand in producing that state 
of affairs, and should make no sacrifices to avert the danger. Both conclusions would 
be alike fallacious. The Union is in imminent danger of permanent and disastrous 
disruption, and the country of civil war ; and the men on the other side have a large 
share, I say much the largest share, of the responsibility to bear. I do not say tha'^ 
the fault is all on one side, or that either is blameless. Were the sacred challenge 
invoked in this body, "whosoever is without sin amongst you, let him cast the first 
stone," I should have no fear of whizzing missiles from the other side of the Cham- 
ber; nor do I believe there would be many discharged from this. 

As I have said before, I consider the war of crimination and recrimination about 
slavery the root of the evil that besets our country; and the organization of a sec- 
tional party based on that issue, deriving its vital energies from that question, as the 
eflective means by which the country has been brought to the brink of destruction j^ 
and of these things I shall speak more at length hereafter. This is my view, 
expressed in no unkind spirit, and only because I would impress upon Senators on 
the other side, and upon the men they represent, the duty of concession at their hands. 
The proposition of the Senator from Kentucky presents the means of doing this 
without much sacrifice of feeling, or pride, or principle. It is a proposition so far as 
the Territories are concerned, simply to divide — to give all north of SG^" 30' to the 
North, excluding slavery, and to give all south of that line to the South, for her insti- 
tutions, during the territorial condition; and on either side of the line, as everybody 
knows, when the Territories become sovereign States, they can have slavery .or not, 
as they please. Is there anything unreasonable in the scheme? Can anything be 
more simple and just ? It involves no dishonor, and the sacrifice of no admitted right, 
nor does it extend slavery one foot, or add one slave to the number now in bondage. 



6 

It is an adjustment on terms that musi commend themselves to all fair-minded men. 
We cannot agree about tlie manag ement of its joint estate. We have kept up a 
protracted and angry controversy about its management; and the Senator from 
Kentucky proposes to divide it on the parallel of 36'^ 30', giving the free States 
about nine hundred thousand square miles, and the slaveholding States about two 
hundred and eighty thousand square miles. Surely the North should not complain 
of a division so generous to her. If we were about to make a peaceable division, no 
one would offer the southern States less, and no umpire would award them less. But 
there seems to be peculiar sensitiveness on the other side about the terms to be employed 
in expressing this division. Why should that be sol Is it not intended to be a 
division in good faith, and that each section shall have its share during the continu- 
ance of the territorial condition? If so, why not say so ? There is a perfect will- 
ingness to interdict slavery on the north side. Then why not recognize and mam- 
tain it on the south ? Surely no honorable man will seek to have both sides of the 
bargain. 

If it be said that by this division, according to your doctrine, you yield the right to 
exclude slavery from two hundred and eighty thousand square miles south of the line, 
southern men reply that, according to their doctrine — and, in my judgment, the true 
doctrine — they yield the right to go into nine hundred thousand square miles north 
of the line. As for the question of future acquisitions, I would not stand upon that 
point ; though I think it the part of wisdom to make the settlement final. The junior 
Senator from California, [Mr. Latham] fears that this feature of the adjustment may 
restrain future acquisitions. Be it so. I think experience is demonstrating that we have 
quite as much country as we are capable of governing. But he bases his opinion on 
the hypothesis that the present state of feeling between the North and the South is to 
continue, and that as men and parties now stand arrayed, so they are to stand for 
centuries to come. The experience of the world, and especially that of our own 
country, is against the assumption. Could I believe this, then indeed would I despair 
of the Republic. But I trust that the slavery agitation will soon culminate and re- 
cede, and that the American people will embrace other ideas and topics. But the 
North need not object to this provision : for if ever the question should be presented 
in a sectional point of view, that section would have control of it. and in no way 
could new domain be forced upon it. Could this territorial point be gained, Mr. 
President, I feel confident that all else in the programme would follow. The inter- 
diction against the right of Congress to interfere with slavery in the places under its 
exclusive jurisdiction, and in this District, and against any future right to interfere 
with slavery within the States, seems less objectionable. As for the rendition of 
fugitive slaves, the Constitution is sufficient as it is ; and if amended at all, in my 
judgment, it should impose the duty of returning fugitives, on the^States as well as on 
Congress; and surely all will agree that the service of the President should be limited 
to a single term, and that the slave trade should be forever interdicted. 

But the territorial question is the great obstacle in the way of peace ; for it is 
through that feature of the adjustment that the South is to have that recognition of 
its rights and equality necessary to relieve its honor and allay its apprehensions. 
For myself, Mr. President, I hold that the people of the southern States, with their 
slaves, have a just and constitutional right to go into the common Territories, there 
to hold, use, and enjoy all property of whatsoever kind known to the laws of the 
State whence they emigrated. This principle was clearly laid down by the Supreme 
Court in the case of Dred Scott. But I do not rest my plea for the South on that 
decision alone. I found it on the broad principles of equity and justice. The Ter- 



ritories were acquired by the expenditure of coinmoB UUn><\ and treasure, ami 
therefore, the common proper'./ of all ; and so long as they so remain, if open to oc- 
cupancy at all, they must be open to all. Tlie Slates are e(juals by the express lan- 
guage of the Constitution, and that principle of equality must prevail in the enjoy- 
ment of a common estate. The right rests on the great principle of equity, as old 
as human government, and as sacred as divine truth. How palpably unjust it 
would be for the two great States of New York and Pennsylvania to sci/o upon a 
large district of this common estate, and then prescribe onerous conditions for emi- 
grants from the small States of New Jersey and Delaware; and yet this is precisely 
the right claimed in the Republican platform, to wit: that the northern States hav- 
ing a majority in Congress, shall lay down the law to the effect that the emigrant 
from a slaveholding State shall not go into the common Territories unless he leaves 
his slave property behind. To my mind, Mr. President, this is the point at which 
the Republican creed is fatally at fault, and at which their gravest responsibilities 
begin; and at which the work of saving the Union must commence. Here their creed 
encounters both justice and law. The justice of the case is apparent to everybody ; 
and the law is found in the Dred Scott decision. In that case the effect of an act 
of Congress, interdicting slavery necessarily arose; and the decision is clear and em- 
phatic that Congress has no right to pass such a law, and it is therefore null and void, 
I will not quote the language of the couit, so often presented and so familiar to 
Senators. 

But it is said that the court was divided. What of that, sir? A majority make the 
court, and when the majority speak the law is declared. Congress is often divided 
about the passage of laws ; but when the majority speaks, though that majority con- 
sists of one vote only, the law is enacted, and none but a madman would for that 
reason doubt its validity. Sad will be the day, and deep the demoralization, when 
men go behind the face of the law to inquire how legislators were divided, and behind 
decisions to see how the judges differed, in order to find pretexts to evade or violate 
the law. But, notwithstanding this decision, it is an article of Republican faith, that 
this unconstitutional and unjust thing shall be done; and more, when almost ready 
to grasp the power to do this thing, you flatter yourselves that you have had no part 
in imperiling the Union; express surprise at the clamor that is raised in the South, 
and talk freely about rebellion and treason ; about the execution of the laws, and 
fidelity to the Constitution, and about the chastisement due to the seditious and diso- 
bedient. That is all very right and proper; but it would be well for you to put 
yourselves right before you attempt to punish others. "First cast the beam out of thine 
own eye, and tiien shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye." 

Your members of Congress, with scarce an exception, are pledged to deny 
to the slaveholder the right to go into the common Territories, unless he leaves 
his slave property behind him, notwithstanding t'.ie Constitution, as defined by the 
court, and the equity so manifestly in his favor. Even your President elect has said 
that, were he a member of Congress, he would vote for such a law. the decision of 
the court to the contrary. This is the worst part of his record, and I regret its exist- 
ence ; for he is the President elect, according to the Constitution, and must hold the 
office. My logic, Mr. President, is, that if we are for the Constitution at all, we must 
sustain every feature of it; and we must accept its meaning at the hands of those 
who have the right to expound it ; and I say further, that you might as well discuss the 
principles of the Christian religion with the infidel who denies the Bible, as American 
politics with the man who will not take the Constitution for his guide. I talk thus 
plainly, because I would have men realize the responsibilities of their teachings, and 



h ii 



r^ffueirconsequencevS. Let tlie;n take warning from the voice of Webster, 
at Capon Springs, in LS51 : "a bargain broken on one side, is broken on all sides," 
and take. care that you do not give just ground for the insubordination you so much 
condemn in others. A solution for theawkvi^ard dilemma of the Republican party is fur- 
nished in the resolutions now pending before the Senate. Will they accept relief in that 
way? Will Senators on the other side permit the people to decide? If not, the issue must 
be with them and their constituents ; and let them be prepared for the consequences. 
The unfaithful execution of the fugitive slave law, though at times greatly exag- 
o-erated as toitsextent, is cause of grievous complaint on the partof our southern friends. 
It is said in extenuation of this wrong, that so far as State laws are inconsistent 
with the Constitution, they are null and void; and can, therefore, do no harm. To 
my mind, Mr. President, this is no answer, and no amend for the wrong. It may 
be some kind of law, but it is bad morals, and enmity rather than comity. Any and 
all attempts to embarrass the execution of the Constitution is bad faith, and betrays 
an unfriendly spirit, well calculated to awaken distrust and retaliation at the hands 
of the injured parties; and I hesitate not to say that all statutes wearing even an 
unfriendly appearance to the Constitution should be promptly repealed. But some 
of those statutes are manifestly in clear conflict with the letter and spirit of the Con- 
stitution ; while others, less offensive in appearance, are liable to be perverted into 
means of mischief and wrong. For instance: the Supreme Court has held that the 
owner of a fugitive slave has a right, by virtue of the Constitution, to possess himself 
of his slave wherever he can find him; and yet nearly all the personal liberty bills 
in the North punish the owner for arresting his slave in a manner to produce tumult 
or riot. All agree that tumult and riot sliould be prevented ; but who does not know 
that half a dozen of abolitionists, and an equal number of free negroes, can get up 
a riot anywhere on the occasion of the arrest of a fugitive, and thus give the owner 
penalties instead of property? My own State lias been arraigned on this point; and 
candor requires me to say that she is not entirely blameless. A part of her statute 
of 1847 has been the means of mischief and wrong, and ought to be repealed. But 
justice to her requires that I should also say, that so long as she was left to the per- 
formance of this duty of returning fugitives in her own way, there was little, if any, 
cause of complaint. More than one hundred and fifty years ago, the provincial 
authorities of Pennsylvania recognized the right of the owner to the service of his 
slave; and in the law of 1780, abolishing slavery, she provided for the return of fugi- 
tive slaves, and manifested her high spirit of comity by providing for the transit of 
slaves through her limits, and for a temporary sojourn of the owners with their 
slaves and servants, for a term not exceeding six months. Her law of 1826, was 
passed ai liie instance of the slavcholding State of Maryland, under the auspices 
of commissioners appointed on the part of that State; and, singularly enough, that 
law contains some of the provisions complained of at this day. It punished kidnap- 
ping, and forbade State officers to execute the fugitive-slave law of 1793; but its 
own provisions for the return of fugitives were simple and direct, and convenient of 
execution; and the State officers and magistrates were required to execute it under 
heavy penalties. From that time down to 1842, when the decision of the case of 
Prigg against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was announced, there was but 
little cause of complaint. But that decision released State officers from all obliga- 
tion to execute the law of Congress; and held that the State laws on that subject 
were null and void, though adopted in good faith to secure the return of fugitive 
slaves; tliat the jurisdiction of the subject was not concurrent, but belonged exclu- 
sively to Congress, or rather that Congress, having legislated for the execution of 



We8t.Ees.HiBfc.Soc 



that part of the Constitution, State legislation was inadmissible. It was held, in 
addition, that the owner had a perfect right to possess himself of his fugitive without 
process, and in disregard of all State statutes. 

The elToct of this decision was felt immediately in tloe States of Maryland and 
Virginia. It threw about tiie law of 1793 the utmost inconvenience of execution. 
In the State of Pennsylvania, for instance, Federal process could only be had at 
Pittsburg or Philadelphia, with an intervening distance, bordering on slave States, 
of four hundred miles; and, hence, claimants of fugitive^, instead of applying for 
process, made arrangements for discovering and recapturing their fugitives witliuul 
process and without trial. This was done by the establishment of agencies, and 
alleged slaves were picked up everywhere with impunity, and carried off without 
the presentation of the slightest evidence that the persons were slaves, or if slaves^ 
that they were to be returned to their real owners. Tliis proceeding became exceed- 
ingly distasteful to the people, and a subject of general clamor even among those 
who were most desirous to execute the Constitution and keep faith with the slave 
States. Nor, sir, will it do to say that there are no instances in which free negroes 
were carried off. As I have be.''ore intimated on this lloor, I know that one was 
carried from my own county, well known to be free, through the agency of a base 
man in a neighboring county. The consequence of these things was the law of 
1847, enacted in pursuance of a very general public sentiment. This law punishes 
kidnapping; and that is right. No slave State will object to that. It relieves State 
officers from the duty of executing the law of Congress. That can be no cause of 
complaint, because the Supreme Court says such was the intention of the Constitution. 
It denied the use of the county prisons for the detention of fugitives during trial. 
After the adoption of the fugitive-slave law of 1850, this provision was repealed, 
and the use of prisons permitted to facilitate the execution of the law of Congress. 
The worst feature of it in existence at present is that which punishes the owner who 
may arrest his fugitive without process under the law, and thereby producing tumult 
and riot ; and this, I say, ought to be promptly repealed, for the reason that it is lia- 
ble to abuse. But, sir, it is not true that there is any want of disposition with the 
great mass of people tliat constitute that State to observe, in jrood faith, every obli- 
gation imposed upon them by the Constitution. They intend to perform their part. 
Nay, more, sir; they desire to avoid even the appearance of wrong; and had the 
State been permitted to follow her own just policy, no man ever would have had 
sufficient ground for complaint against her. 

But, Mr. President, the organization of a geographical party; that organization 
against which George Washington warned his countrymen, was the fatal day for this 
Republic. I have been in the habit of saying, sir, everywhere on the stump, that 
such an organization was inconsistent with the peace of the nation ; that a political 
association so hostile to the institutions of another section of the country that it 
could have no recognition and no members in the assaulted section, must necessarily 
be an agent of alienation and hostility among the people. George Washington and 
Andrew Jackson botii forsaw this, and men on the otlier side should have heeded 
their warnings. It vviU not do to say that it never was intended to be a sectional 
party; that it is based on great truths that can be and ought to be universal. Sir, 
disguise it as we may, the Republican organization has had, and has now, but one 
vital spark of existence, and that is prejudice and hostility to admitted rights — to the 
institution of slavery — an institution recognized by the fathers. I know, sir, it is 
said, in mitigation, that Republicans never intend to exercise any unconstitutional right; 
that their purpose is not to interfere with slavery in the States. But, Mr. President' 



10 

tell me when or where a Republican meeting has been held, since the dawn of that 
party, where the impression was not left, either by its proceedings or in the language 
of its orators, that in some way or other the Republican organization was the agency 
through which slavery was to be abolished everywhere? This was not always done 
directly and in plain terms; men occupying the position of statesmen dare not do 
this : but they would talk about an irrepressible conflict between the local institu- 
tions of the States. They would say they did not expect the house to fall, but they 
did expect it to become all one thing or all the other — all slave or all ftee ; and who 
could imagine that they intended to intimate that the States should all become 
slave? Then, sir, they would talk about hemming slavery in with a eordon of fire, 
so that it might perish by its own blasting effects. 

It is idle, Mr. President, it would be unmanly at a time like this, to close our eyes 
to the manifest effects of what men have said and done. This kind of mysterious 
teachings of the Republican leaders was necessary to draw to them the support of 
the old auti-slavery party of the North. Without that support, they could not suc- 
ceed ; and they could not get that support, without, to a greater or less extent, iden- 
tifying themselves with the doctrines of abolitionism, and of aggression upon slavery 
everywhere. Now, sir, if these doctrines are not to be carried out, why not say so ? 
Cannot men rise above the ordinary position of partisans, and say frankly and em- 
phatically that they do not intend, either by direct or indirect means, to interfere 
with the rights of the southern States, or attempt to deny to them perfect equality — 
not only as members of the Confederacy, but in the use and enjoyment of our 
common Territories? Let the President elect say this, and the skies will brighten. 
Come, Senators, " let justice be done though the heavens fall;" let the South have 
her share of the common estate ; and as she is the weaker party, give her prompt 
and efficient guarantees against future interference and against future aggression, as 
far as that can be done; and we shall again have peace. Without it, without con- 
cession and compromise, our destiny is inevitable — disunion, civil war, and anarchy 
are before us. 

To my own mind, Mr. President, a still greater source of evil, of alienation, and 
hostility, than all those already mentioned, is the habit which prevails in the North of 
branding slavery with opprobious epithets, and denouncing slaveholders as barba- 
rians and criminals, for doing that which it was agreed they might do. This is the 
exhaustless fountain from which flow the bitter waters of discord, which are poison- 
ing all the channels of intercourse, commercial, political, and social, between the 
northern and the southern States, wielding an influence more poisoning and blight- 
ing than the shades of the deadly upas. Southern men, from notions of pride and 
dignity, give less prominence to this idea; but no man who has associated with 
them as I have, could fail to discover its effect upon their feelings. A southern man, 
once a member of this body, but not now here, because his State claims to be out of 
the Union, touchingly remarked to me on this floor: "Look at our case; look at 
my State," said he ; "the present generation there have had nothing to do with 
establishing slavery ; we inherited it ; we believe it to be right ; we do just what jt 
was agreed we might do at the time the Confederacy was made, and what the 
northern States were mainly doing at that time ; and yet, sir, for so doing this thing, 
we find ourselves branded as barbarians, and our institution talked about as a twin 
relic of barbarism and polygamy, and we as men favoring a lower order of civiliza- 
tion than that enjoyed in the North, and as living in the daily practice of oppres- 
sion and wrong. Now, sir," said he, "I care little about your territorial question; 
we have a clear constitutional right in the Territories, and it ought to be recognized, 



11 

but it is not a valuable right ; nor have I any fear of violence at the hands of north 
ern people j with me it is the wear and tear of feeling; it is the attempted humilia- 
tion and inequality in the Government that has alienated me. I would rather 
have," said he, '' relations with any other men on the face of the earth, than with 
those claiming to be my brethren and part of the same common Government, who 
thus outrage my feelings and estimate me politically and laurally as beneath their 
position." 

Unhappily, Mr. President, this feeling is too wide and too general. I say it i. the 
seat of the disease which is exhausting the vitals of our Republic. How to remoTC 
it, God only knows. The expression of sentiment under our institutions, cannot be 
suppressed, and can be but slightly restrained ; and I had reference to this feeling 
mainly when I remarked on the lltliof Doceml)er, that whatever remedies were 
adopted ought to be complete and final, reaching the root of the disease, and sepa- 
rating the question of slavery entirely from popular elections in the North, in order 
that the public mind may be at rest, and that those men who are sincere, conscien- 
tious enemies of slavery — for a large body of them are so — should feel themselves 
entirely separated from the institution ; that they have no connection with it; no 
responsibility to bear, and no duties to perform. Thus separated, possibly they 
would cease their aggressions on their southern friends; or, perhaps, they would 
turn their attention to a wider field, and look to the elevation of the condition of the 
African in Cuba, where they could wage war, if war they must have, without mak- 
ing it upon their kindred and their brethren ; where there would be no compacts to 
violate, and no fraternal blood to shed ; or to the still wider field presented in the 
native land of the African, and where thep would find a still lower grade of degra. 
dation. Surely, when they shall have occupied those fields, and elevated ihe native 
African to the condition of the descendants of that country in the southern States, 
no one will object to their efTorts to elevate and relieve the condition of the African 
slave in America, But it seems to rae that true philanthropy and humanity require 
that they should take hold of the disease where it is worst. The skilUul physician 
would do this. The philanthropist ought to exert himself in the field where suffer- 
ing humanity needs his aid most. Then let them labor to bring the African in his 
native country, or in Cuba, up to the condition of the southern slave ; and when 
they shall have done that, then let them turn their attention to the descendants o^ 
Africa in the North — the free negroes, a degraded and suflering race — and see what 
can be done for them. 

Sir, I do not wish to be understood as an advocate for African slavery. I am not 
but I cannot see the cruelty or the political or moral evil in it that men on the other 
side attribute to it. They do not intend to give the negro political equality in this 
country. They will not dare say they do ; nor do they intend him to have social 
equality. What then remains to him? Physical existence, and nothing else. Such 
liberty is a delusion and a fraud — the word of promise to the ear, to be broken to the 
hope. Suppose the proposition were submitted, at points in the North, where large 
numbers of free negroes are found, to appoint respectable and responsible white men as 
guardians for each family, to direct their physical efforts for an animal existence ; to see 
thattheir labor was properly directed, so that their earnings might beaprlied to theuse 
of the family ; to take care of the aged, and feed and clothe the young ; would tha^ 
be a very cruel proposition? Certainly not; and yet, stripped of occasional abuses 
of the institution by the violent separation of families, and the recognition of an un- 
pleasant principle, and that is about all there is in the institution of slavery in the 
South. It is the application of a superior intellectual ability to direct the muscular 
efforts of the Africans to secure subsistence. 



12 

But in God's name, if this agitation is to go on, if a party in one section of the 
country is to be organized and derive its vital spark of existence from this agitation, 
let us koow what is to be accomplished, what good end is to result from it ; what 
can be done for the white or the black race by it? In what possible way is the 
condition of either to be improved? Would you msike the slaves free men ? Unless 
you mean this, you mean nothing. If free men, how, when, and where ? You ac- 
knowledge the restrictions of the Constitution as to the slave States. But suppose 
this were removed, and the southern people were to say, here are our slaves; we set 
them free ; they must be clothed and fed ; come and take them : then what would 
you do? Nothing, gentlemen ; absolutely nothing. The most abolitionized State 
in the Union would not agree to receive her quota of slaves in order to give them 
freedom. They could not be brought North ; and if such a thing were possible, 
every sane man must know that their condition would be infinitely worse. They 
would not only be slaves, but miserable, starving, degraded slaves. As was well 
remarked by the Senator from Virginia, the other day, in tracing the consequences 
of war between the two sections, and justly denying the right and possibility of sub- 
duing the South, if you had the South subdued, what would you do Avith the slaves ? 
He said, as I say, you would have to retain them there; and if the South were 
conquered provinces of the North, the institution of slavery would have to be main- 
tained, and the right of property in slaves recognized. What a hazard we are run- 
ning, then, Mr. President, for an idle abstraction or a vain delusion ? 

I have no pleasure, sir, in this kiud of talk. As God is my judge, my heart is not 
in it at all. I am in no spirit of crimination. I stand here between the extremes of 
the North and the South, getting but littft countenance or sympathy from either side, 
but I stand for my country, for the Union of these States, for the cause of justice and 
humanity, for the right, for duty and fidelity on all hands, and against a fratricidal 
war at all times and in every contmgency. 

I have already said that I do not hold southern men blameless on this subject. 
They have indulged a spirit of recrimination and retaliation towards the North 
neither wise nor philosophical ; and it cannot be denied that a vexatious system of 
espionage has been kept up in some southern States as to northern men visiting that 
region, and in some instances cruel and condign punishment inflicted upon them in 
a manner disgraceful to the age, and well calculated to provoke aggression and hos- 
tility. They have, in addition, been unnecessarily sensitive and exacting on unim- 
portant points, and at times have left the impression that nothing that the northern 
people could do or say would relieve their apprehensions or assuage their feelings. 

As for secession, I am utterly against it. I deny the right, and I abhor the conse- 
quences ; but I shall indulge in no argument as to the right. It is no remedy for any 
one of the evils lamented ; and in my judgment, it will aggravate rather than remove 
them ; and, in addition, superinduce countless others of a more distressing and destruc- 
tive character. " It were wiser to bear the ills we have, than fly to others we know 
not of." Will dissolution arrest aggressions upon the rights of the South ? Will it 
extend the area of their peculiar institution? Will it break up the machinations of 
those who conspire to carry off slave property? Will it assuage popular feeling in 
the North as to slavery? Will it give additional security to the holders of slaves? 
and will it prevent insurrection ? In my judgment, it will do none of these things. 
Nor can it by any possibility improve the material interests of either section of the 
Union ; and I do not intend to dwell upon the question of material interests in con- 
sidering the value of the Union. If we could have two republics of equal size, and 
live in harmony and in unrestrained commercial and political intercourse, the national 



13 

growth might not be seriously affected. But would this revolution stop with two 
republics; and can peaceful relations be maintained ? Both is possible; but neither 
the one nor the other is probable. If once disruption becomes permanent, the history 
of the world would seem to teach that subdivisions would follow until the American 
Union would be divided into a score or more of petty, wrangling, and demoralized 
republics, exciting only the pity and contempt of the world. 

Acknowledging the justice of the complaints of the southern States to no incon- 
siderable extent, I deprecate with all nay heart the remedy they pursue, and am 
prepared to resist it by all proper means in my power. Even if the right 
of secession were clear, Mr. President, I maintain that justice and good faith to the 
other States require that redress for alleged grievances to the Soutii should first be 
sought at the hands of the people, the fountain of political autliority, and in the 
forms prescribed in the Constitution. The southern States should have petitioned 
Congress for a convention of States to revise the Constitution and remove the 
grievances of which they complain. In this way they could have ascertained the 
real sentiments and intentions of the northern people towards them, and the great 
alternatives of continued Union or peaceful separation could have been determined 
upon. This was the course of our fathers in reference to the old confederation, 
which was intended to be perpetual, but was changed because it did not answer the 
purposes for which it was created. Let our southern friends follow this example, 
even at this late day, and all may be yet saved. Better counsels will prevail in such 
a body than in Congress. Men will come fresh from the people, unembarrassed by 
party politics and party platforms. This refused by the North, and then, and not 
till then; could violent remedies with any show of justice be invoked. The Con- 
stitution was intended to meet just such exigencies as now surround us; and hence, 
no provision was made for the separation of the States, and none for the coercion 
of States into obedience to the fundamental law of the Union. The men who 
made the Constitution were in the practice of that peaceful remedy at the time, and 
doubtless intended to leave the same remedy and none other to posterity. This 
remedy should still be embraced, unless Congress should promptly submit to the 
States some measure of pacification and reunion. 

No one pretends that the right of secession is given in the Constitution ; and 
no one can seriously pretend that, if practiced by a State, the act is not, to some ex- 
tent, a violent one, and in derogation of the rights and interests of the other States. 
The right or wrong of it in the estimation of the world, like the right or wrong of 
revolution, must depend in no inconsiderable degree upon the sufficiency or insuflS- 
ciency of the reasons that induce it, and the consequences resulting therefrom. I 
think the reasons insufficient, and the remedy not only futile, but unjust to others. I 
deplore it, I deprecate the movement with all my heart ; and I would be willing 
to wield any proper power in the Government, any peaceful means, to arrest the 
movement, so that men might be induced to look before they leap. But it is said, on 
the other side, that the authority of the Government of the United States must be vindi- 
cated ; that rebellion, sedition, and insurrection must be put down, the Unitn saved, and 
the laws executed at all hazards. On these points, and as to the duty and powers of the 
Government, I concur mainly in what was said by the Senator from Illinois. [Mr. 
Douglas.] No man denies that the laws should be executed ; but if the peopit uf a 
s'- reign State, by a common voice, and in authoritative form, threw off their allegi- 
aii«e to the Federal Government, and acknowledged another, how are you to execute 
the laws wiifhin such a State, or carry out any one of liie functions of the Federal 
Government? To execute the laws, suppress insurrection, and put down rebellion 



14 

is a nice theory, and pleasant talk ; but will gentlemen tell us how it can be done 
against the united voice of a sovereign State? When the people have thrown off 
their allegiance to the General Government, and acknowledged only that of the State, 
the Federal Government may command the citizen to do one thing, but his allegi- 
ance to the State would require him to do another ; and so he is bound hand and foot. 
You cannot carry mails, hold courts, nor collect revenues with the Army, even if 
you had a large one ; but with all the Army this Governmentjjhas at present, such a 
work would be idle. What then? Shall we recognize the States now claiming to 
be out of the Union as de facto Governments, and wage war against them, to regain 
the jurisdiction of the United States within thei- respective limits? 

Before we do this, let us look at the fearful alternatives. Such a war would not 
involve a contest with five States only, but with twelve or fifteen. He is a madman 
who closes his eyes to this fact. However much the border States may deprecate 
the action of the Cotton States, and however bitterly they may lament that action 
and denounce it, if you please, they have, with scarce an exception, declared seces- 
sion to be the right of any State, and that no war shall be made on a sister State for 
the exercise of that right, however unwise that exercise may seem. Then, sir, it 
would be a war with fifteen States on one side and eighteen on the other. Let Sen- 
ators who talk of war study the picture ! Nothing in all the sad consequences of 
dissolution can be so blasting and horrible, as such a war, even though it presented 
the hope of re-establishing the Union. But how fallacious and delusive must be the 
idea of union through such means ! It involves the practice of disunion of the most 
fatal type. Let war once commence, and the Union is gone forever. What would 
be the purpose of the war ? It must either be to chastise the offending States, to 
gratify feelings of hostility against them ; to vindicate the honor and dignity of the 
Government, or reconstruct the Union ; but it would fail to accomplish the one or 
the other. What good end then will it subserve to shed the blood of our race and 
kindred, who separate from us politically, because they have believed they were not 
treated as equals ? States cannot be brought back into the Union, or kept in the 
Union, by the sword. It is impossible. Ours is a Government of consent, and must 
be sustained by good will and fraternal affection. By what earthly means can you 
compel a sovereign State to perform the functions of a member of this Confederacy 
against her will? Can you make her citizens hold office? Can you make them 
regard your laws ? Can you compel them to elect members of Congress, and can 
members of Congress be forced to serve ? Can you collect revenues or taxes where 
no man will perform the office of tax-gatherer? It is idle. I say, therefore, that 
coercion is a mere phrase, a sheer delusion. The idea of thirty-three States, that 
failed to live in fraternal union, being reunited by a long and bloody war, is prepos- 
terous. No, sir, this never can be. And in saying this, I do not mean to say that I 
would not force all the States to remain, if I believed it possible ; for no greater 
wrvice could be rendered them. 

In my opinion, secession is the worst possible remedy for the evils complained ot 
by the southern States, and coercion the maddest of ail the remedies suggested for 
secession. The States ought to live in fraternal bonds; but if they will not, shall 
one half put the other to the sword? Such a war would be one of extermination. 
Neither side could ever conquer; and if the northern States could conquer, what 
would tiiey do with the southern States as provinces? The Senator from Virginia 
met that point the other day so completely that I need not discuss it. But God for- 
bid that war should ever begin ! I am against it. I am for peace ; and -I am ready 
to grant anything in reason to reconcile the discontented States and the offended 



15 

people. I am ready to implore them to remain in the Union ; I am ready to fight 
for their constitutional rights to the last hour; but to shed a brother's blood in a fra- 
tricidal war, I shall be ready — never ! never ! 

But still I have an abiding faith that the nation can be saved ; not by mere 
hosannas to the Union, though I like them exceedingly. It will require works as 
well as faith. When Rome was in the full tide of her decline, it was the boast of 
the Romans that, while the Colliseum stands, Rome will stand. The boast was 
vain, for " Time's effacing finger" ever points to the fallacy of the expectation. 
The humbled pride and departed grandeur of the once mistress of the world are a 
fitting commentary upon worldly ambition. Still, the American boast that while 
the Union stands America will stand, is far more wise and rational. But means 
must be used. Then, boasts may be indulged. The adoption of the resolutions of 
the Senator from Kentucky, by the vote of all parties in Congress, would at once 
give assurance of reunion and continued union, and would be the voice of peace 
and good will throughout the land. What a blessed message it would be to go trem- 
bling over the wires from State to State, from city to city, from town to town, hill 
to valley, and house to house, throughout this broad land ; and how many hearts 
would impulsively thank God for his mercies ! Our Government is too young to 
end now. Comparatively speaking, it is in its infancy. It has only seen the years 
of a very old man ; and some there are still alive who lived before independence. 
Can it be that its existence is to be so limited, so fleeting? a sky-rocket among*the 
nations, to rise and shine for a brief period, and then sink to rise no more? I do 
not believe this. God has more in store for America than this. It required the 
Roman empire about five hundred years to reach the climax of its greatness, and about 
an equal period to decline and fall. Babylon had existed sixteen centuries when the 
mysterious characters on the wall gave the affrighted king notice that the time of its 
downfall was at hand. The Athenian Government existed more than twelve times 
the period which ours has been in existence. The English Government has seen 
over six centuries since the days of Magna Charta; the American Union has not 
seen one ! Could it be now saved and reconstructed, as far as broken, might we not 
hope that its foundations would be deeper and firmer than ever ; that the ordeal 
through which it is now passsing would root its foundations more cfl'ectively and 
completely in the aflfections of the people ? 

But Senators talk of war; and it disturbs no man's nerves that widely separated 
States and communities should do so. The men of the arctic regions of the United 
States, away up in Maine, and Vermont, and Massachusetts, can shake their gory 
locks at those inhabiting a neck of land in the tropics of America, known as Florida ; 
and the Floridians, in turn, may manifest a belligerent design. S^ light will be 

bloodless ; but it will be far otherwise with the free and slave States bordering on 
each other, should that be the line of division. They will be within striking distance 
and to them this war will be no idle bravado. It will be a matter of life and death. 
Look at the position of my own glorious old State. No broad river, or high moun- 
tain, or deep chasm, or high wall, divides her from the slaveholding States. From 
the waters of the Ohio to those of the Delaware, her broad side lies nestling close 
ap against the sides of her slaveholding sisters. First, on the west, comes Virginia, 
then Maryland, and then, full up in her generous bosom, rests her little sister Dela 
ware, with the heads of both reclining on thejbanks of the river where, at ihe same 
moment, the rays of the morning sun may kiss the brow of both. For four hundred 
miles, from the Ohio to the Delaware, her south side reclines against the north side 



16 

of slaveholding States ; mountain to mountain, hill to hill, valley to valley, farm 
to farm, neighborhood to neighborhood, brother to brother, sister to sister, hand to 
hand, and heart to heart. The line has been, to the fraternal citizens on either side, 
imaginary ; they have passed from the North to the South, and from the South to 
the North, without even a thought that it marked the beginning of a people strangers 
to each other, much less aliens and enemies. All along this line there has been 
marrying and giving in marriage. The sons of Virginia have married the daughters 
of Pennsylvania, and the sons of Pennsylvania have married the daughters of Vir- 
ginia, and so has it been with Maryland and Delaware. That line is sanctified by 
all the ties that can endear men to each other— political and commereial ties; ties 
of interest and custom; ties of consanguinity and affection. 

Great God ! Are all these to be severed ? Is this line to mark the boundaries of 
enemies? Impossible ! Humanity and justice forbid it. Pennsylvania will never 
become the enemy of Virginia. Pennsylvania will never draw the sword on Vir- 
ginia ; and she is no less affectionate to her other sisters. In good faith she has per- 
formed her part in peace and in war. For many long years she has endeavored to 
stay the tide of disaffection and alienation between the two sections. She has been 
truly the keystone of the Federal arch, and the bulwark of the rights of her sisters. 
Like some mighty peninsular between two heaving seas, she has resisted and rolled 
bac]^ the waves of discord and strife ; but alas! the waves have risen higher and 
higher, pntil she is quite submerged, and her resistance is powerless. 

For myself, I have but a few days longer to serve here, when I shall return to 
share her fate. She is my mother, and I love her with filial affection. She has made 
me what little I am ; and though at times she has cherished and caressed, and then 
frowned— whether smiling or frowning— I love her still. Frowning though last she 
has been, she is just and generous; and come what may — peace or war, weal or 
woe— her cause will be my cause. I say to her in the touching language of ineffa- 
ble love: 

" Whither thou goest I will go ; where thou lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall 
be my people; and thy God my God." 



H. polkinhobn's 

STEAM JOB PEESS; 

Washington, D. C. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 895 863 9 m 

I 



